Monday, September 2, 2013

The woes of the doctors

I was at a party and I started to hear about a doctor detailing his financial woes and how the patient treats the doctors in ways not known in the outside field. The doctor along with another doctor was operating a storefront office near a hospital and he started to detail that how many taxes, insurance and other things cost him in terms of his business and cash. He was actually complaining about how much he has to pay in payroll taxes and how the Medicare and Medicaid does not do justice when compensating them for their services and even the insurance claims are taken care off after so many months. Since they have to attend to every patient whether insured or not, the private doctors suffer. He was also saying that how the people pay the electrician, plumbers, and car mechanics right away but when it comes to their health care, they are hesitant even to pay a co pay and they argue about it and ask the doctors to claim from the insurance company.
And they have to pay mal practice insurance and also the assorted taxes on businesses as the doctors are considered the upper classes of society. But after hearing how he was suffering and have to be creative in financial situation where the patient demands every kind of tests thinking he/she has insurance, I have come to the conclusion that the doctor become well off after many many years since they have to pay their students loans and then establish themselves and with Medicare and Medicaid payments and insurance payments being squeezed, it is no wonder that the increasing financial burden will be deterring more students to avoid this field altogether.